The skeleton’s structural support has a big impact on other systems—including the immune system and nervous system. When the spine is misaligned, it can interfere with these communications and cause a host of symptoms.
Tight or imbalanced muscles can also affect spinal alignment and increase pressure on the nerves, causing pain and numbness. Fortunately, chiropractic can help ease those symptoms.
Reduces Inflammation
Inflammation is your body’s natural defense system, but if it persists, you can end up with serious health conditions. This includes joint pain, respiratory issues, digestive problems, fatigue, and skin problems.
Using spinal manipulation, chiropractors can reduce inflammation. They do this by releasing tension in the back and neck areas. This can relieve pressure on nerves, which lowers inflammation and speed up healing.
Many chiropractors also use therapeutic modalities like cold treatment, low-level laser therapy, and electrical muscle stimulation. These techniques help improve blood flow and decrease swelling.
However, people with osteoporosis or spinal cord compression should not undergo spine manipulation. They should first obtain clearance from their medical doctor. In addition, patients taking blood-thinning medications should not receive chiropractic treatments. They should also avoid inflammatory foods and instead stick to a healthy diet. Chiropractic care can ease inflammation and promote a healthy immune system.
Improves Posture
Bad posture is a major contributor to back pain and other health issues. Often, this is because tight or misaligned muscles create tension that pulls on the spine and other joints. Chiropractors use gentle movements to relieve this tension, helping you stand and sit more comfortably.
Moreover, they may recommend exercises and stretches to strengthen the core muscles that support good posture. This helps to reduce the strain on the musculoskeletal system, and it also improves breathing and digestion.
Furthermore, chiropractors can teach you what good posture feels like for your unique body and help you build postural awareness. This can help you maintain good posture throughout the day, reducing the risk of chronic pain and other health problems. It can even help you feel more confident and have a better self-image. Good posture also supports healthy joint function and mobility, allowing you to engage in sports and other physical activities with ease.
Relieves Tension
The skeletal system supports our internal organs, allows movement and mobility and houses the spinal nerves that innervate the rest of the body. When the bones misalign or fracture, it can cause pain and limit function.
Using manual adjustments, chiropractors can ease tension and restore alignment, helping to relieve back pain and discomfort. They also work to reduce inflammation and improve muscle flexibility.
In addition, chiropractic treatment helps to promote blood flow throughout the body and brain. This increases healing and decreases the need for pain-relieving medication.
Chiropractic can be used to treat a wide range of conditions including lower back pain, neck pain and headaches. It can also help with fibromyalgia, sciatica, arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, otitis media and digestive issues. In fact, a 2020 study found that chiropractic care can help reduce the number of opioid pain relievers needed for chronic neck pain.
Promotes Blood Flow
Poor circulation can cause cold hands and feet, and can also contribute to high blood pressure. Many factors can affect your body’s circulation, including sitting at a desk all day, and health conditions like diabetes. Chiropractic treatments improve blood flow by removing interference with the nervous system.
A well functioning nervous system can send positive signals to your body’s organs and tissues to help reduce inflammation, promote healing and improve function. Research shows that spinal manipulation, and other chiropractic techniques such as myofascial release, can help improve blood flow by removing pressure from nerves and improving joint mobility. Good circulation is vital for delivering oxygen and nutrients to tissues and organs, and helping the immune system fight off infections. When the nervous and vascular systems are working properly, inflammation is reduced and you can heal faster.
Increases Endorphins
Nerve pain occurs when the body’s nervous system’s integrity or functionality is compromised. These nerves send negative signals from the brain to pain centers. Pain receptors can also be over-stimulated when the spine is misaligned.
Spinal manipulation, or adjustment, is a chiropractic technique that involves applying pressure to the spinal joints to improve alignment and decrease pain and inflammation. This can help reduce tension and spasms in the muscles and connective tissue, such as fascia, which helps with flexibility and blood flow.
Besides providing relief from pain, chiropractic can increase endorphins, which are natural hormones that make you feel happy. This can boost mood and alleviate stress and anxiety, which often contribute to chronic pain. By reducing these symptoms, chiropractic can help you avoid taking pain medications in the long term, which can have unwanted side effects, including drowsiness and addiction.
Promotes Healthy Movement
Often, people who suffer from chronic pain use medication to manage the symptoms, but the medications don’t address the underlying issues. Those issues can include weak muscles and ligaments, poor posture, and compressed nerves. Chiropractic adjustments help to correct those issues and improve movement.
For example, if you have sciatica (pain and numbness in the back and legs that result from a herniated disc), your chiropractor may perform spinal manipulations like Flexion Distraction and Spinal Mobilization to remove pressure from the nerves and reduce your pain. They can also do therapeutic modalities such as soft tissue therapy or Kinesio taping to ease spasms and tight muscles.
Movement is essential to a healthy spine and body. Chiropractors are highly trained to assess your movement and help you achieve the movements you desire. They can also help you develop daily movement routines that prevent injuries and improve performance.
Reduces Stiffness
Neck stiffness can be a symptom of serious health problems such as cervical spondylosis, herniated disks or whiplash. Tight muscles can also interfere with spinal or joint function and lead to pain and stiffness throughout the body. Chiropractors use hands-on techniques to help relax tight muscles, improve alignment and reduce pressure on joints and nerves.
Your chiropractor, especially if they’re good, or similar to the Akron chiropractors, can teach you exercises to improve movement and flexibility, reducing the stiffness that often results from lack of activity. Chiropractors also optimize nervous system function to quiet chronic pain by restoring appropriate pain perception and response. This reduces inflammation and improves mobility while allowing your body to heal naturally. This approach can decrease your need for prescription painkillers, avoiding dependency on potentially addictive medication. Your chiropractor may also share dietary and lifestyle recommendations to further ease discomfort. This makes it easier to return to your normal life activities and prevents future issues.
Strengthens Muscles
To build muscle, your body’s tendons, muscles and bones must communicate effectively. Tight or unbalanced muscles can cause misalignments, stress on nerves and joints, and lead to pain. A chiropractor can help you relax and loosen those tight muscles so that your nervous system can perform its job better.
Strong muscles are essential for success in all sports. You need strength to tackle a football player, hit a home run in baseball and kick a goal in soccer, and to cross the finish line first in a marathon or other long race.
Chiropractic techniques like spinal manipulation and adjustments, along with stretches and exercises, strengthen your entire neuromusculoskeletal system. One study found that chiropractic increases strength by reducing central inhibition to the muscles, or in other words, removing the handbrake from your muscles so they can move more efficiently.
Relieves Pressure on Nerves
Pain often comes from a pinched nerve, and this can lead to more serious health issues if left untreated. Unlike traditional painkillers that mask the problem and can be addictive, chiropractic offers safe, drug-free treatment that addresses the root cause of the discomfort.
The nervous system is a vital network of signaling cells that relays information between the brain and spinal cord, and to all other parts of the body. If this information is interrupted, negative signals will be sent to the pain centers of the brain, which can result in neuropathic pain.
Chiropractors are experts in the spine and nervous system, and they can remove misalignments that put pressure on nerves and limit brain-body communication. This can help relieve tingling and numbness that often occur with back pain. In addition, they can help ease the tension that leads to headaches and migraines.
Helps You Sleep Better
Many people have sleep issues, and neck pain is a common cause. This pain can make it difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep throughout the night, and it also can lead to tension headaches and migraines. A chiropractor can help relieve the pain and improve sleep.
Chiropractic treatments work to address the root of the problem rather than simply masking or compensating for it. One of the primary focuses is on increasing circulation, which helps to alleviate fatigue and improve sleep.
Lack of sleep is very bad for your health, as it ruins your daytime energy and makes it hard to think clearly. It also weakens your immune system and increases your risk for high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, and mental health problems. A holistic chiropractor can correct a number of problems that prevent restful sleep, including misalignment, muscle tension, and increased production of the stress hormone cortisol.
